Saturday, December 17, 2011

More Adventures in Cat-land

Don't wring your hands in anxiety - the cats are all well and flourishing.

Little Guy (LG) is growing fuzz where she was shaved for her operation. Her wound is healed and she is her normal bouncy self. She continues to neglect her kittens and cast herself at the tomcats. She is of no interest to them (thankfully!) which is good for her long-term health, even if she is suffering from short-term confusion and rejection.

LG and Ratty are back hanging out together on the doorstep, still the best of pals. Ratty has not recovered his former strength - he can't leap up onto walls, only onto comfy chairs and laps.

I have been in hospital this past week having infusions every morning and coming home about 10 o'clock, which has rather upset Ratty's routine. On Sunday (first day of the week here) when I came home Ratty was sitting on the doorstep with LG. This was the first time he has climbed out of the garden since his second illness. He was happy to see me and skipped inside. On Wednesday I came in, noted Ratty sitting under the table and almost immediately went out again to visit a friend on the compound. When I got home an hour or two later, Ratty was no where to be seen. It was a lovely day so I thought perhaps he was in the garden with the other cats, and I was very tired. I lay down on the couch thinking Ratty will come and join me, as he always does, and promptly fell asleep. (Please note I get up at 4 40 am to get to the hospital for 6 am, and the treatment is exhausting so I am allowed to have a sleep. In fact I need to have a sleep every day.)

My conscience woke me up. No Ratty. I forced myself up and had a look in the garden for him. No Ratty. I knew he would not be upstairs if I was downstairs, which meant he was probably out on the compound somewhere, and possibly in trouble. I went for a walk along the golf course road. There was no one around to hear me call 'Ratty', feeling slightly foolish. There were lots of peacocks about but no cats.

Then I heard a voice, and saw one of Seams's May kittens, who came out of the trees to ask for a handout, but I didn't think it was his (probably a male) voice I'd heard. A few metres further on was Ratty, sitting up and maowing. I called again and he came running towards me, maowing furiously. But, he couldn't get to me, and I could see why he hadn't come home: at that point, the surface of the golf course is about one and a half metres below the surface of our road - so he was facing a two metre high concrete wall. What to do?

I knew that about 300 metres back towards the club house, the ground rises and at one point, the golf course is actually slightly above the top of the retaining wall. Could I convince him to follow me along the road back to where he could hop out?

First there was the the group of peacocks and hens to negotiate - pretty scary for a cat of any condition, doubly so for one who is not perfectly fit. Then there was the Seams-kitten who wanted to keep Ratty off his 'patch'. Ratty is not the brightest cat in the firmament but he is loyal and deeply, madly, truly in love with me. He followed me. I called, he maowed, we'd progress five or ten metres and then he'd stop to have a rest. He tried a few times to jump up onto the wall and crashed back to the sand. Finally I reached the part where the golf course was above the wall, only Ratty was not with me. I called and he answered - he'd managed to jump up and was down on the road behind me, waiting.

We trotted home together, Ratty chatting and me relieved. He came in and had an enormous bowl of crunchies and then we retired to the sofa, together:

We were quite done in by our excitement.

But very happy the adventure had a happy outcome:

He has not ventured back to the golf course to my knowledge - or if he has, he's remembered where he can get out. He does like climbing out of the garden and hanging with LG on the front step, and always likes scooting back inside when I open the door for him. Mind you, he never goes out if I am at home so I suspect some of his motivation for going AWOL is that he is looking for me. He's at my feet now.

Miss Ming and Mr Macc are continuing with their toffee-nosed approach to the interlopers. I have caught them ganging up together on Miss Wolfe, which is a bit mean, although she does ask for it. The other day Wolfe pounced on Ming as she left the kitchen, a sneaky, surprise attack. Wolfe is a smart cat though, and when I shouted at her, she immediately left Ming alone and ran away to hide. I could really do without cat-dramas at 5 am. Really.

Macc and Ming remind me of disapproving parents - I think it is me as much as the interlopers that they are disappointed in:

Sleep is good and if a furry companion sleeps with you, so much the better. I LOVE the photos of Ratty's paws - so delicate, so pink. He really is a beauty. Poor Miss Ming and Macc, though - they are feeling most affronted - they'll get over it (said with bravado rather than conviction;-))

Aaaaw. May you and Ratty (oh, and the others) have as much lounging as you need over the Christmas season. I think I've missed previous peacock episodes, but they sound like a force to be reckoned with!